


If We Only Tried

by deandratb



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, first L/L fic EEK, slight references to other characters but no appearances by any of them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-07-22 01:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7413094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/pseuds/deandratb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt fic, Luke and Lorelai snowed in, early S4. Fluff. <i>"No, Luke isn’t holding me here against my will...it’s just a fluke thing."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where I Want to Be

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly AU. Luke finalized his divorce from Nicole before winter arrived. 
> 
> For [jmb25](jmb25.tumblr.com).
> 
> Disclaimed. Prompt: **Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…**

Lorelai answered the door less than a minute after Luke knocked.

“Thank god!” She stepped back as he entered, then shut the door against the snow that tried to blow in after him.

“Here’s the food,” he began, then froze and looked around him. “Why does this place look like a tornado hit it?”

“I was organizing.”

“Job well done.”

As though he hadn’t spoken, she led the way to the living room, continuing, “I was feeling cooped up, and I decided to start with a little of each room, so I wouldn’t give up halfway through and be left with some of the house still a mess.”

“You thought it would be more feng shui to leave the **whole** house a mess?”

“No...but when I got done organizing part of the kitchen, I realized I was hungry and I didn’t have any food that wasn’t a safety hazard--and Taylor shut down the store because of the storm, so I called you.”

“So after we eat you’re gonna go back to cleaning all this up?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m tired now.”

She dropped dramatically onto the couch and patted the cushion next to her. “So what’d you bring me?”

“The usual. Burger and fries.”

Her face fell, just a little. The corner of his mouth twitched as he sat. “Plus a second burger for later, some leftover pizza you can nuke tomorrow if the storm doesn’t let up...and pie.”

“Pie? My hero!”

“That’s me. A white knight with a rolling pin.”

“Seriously though, Luke, thanks. It’s crazy out there, and this was a real grocery emergency. I wouldn’t have been able to stop Sookie from trying to bring something over in this weather, so it was a godsend, you coming over.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” he pointed out. “You called Caesar and told him a sob story about the horrors of starvation and the Donner party and talked about having to eat your own foot like some guy in a book you read once and eventually he cracked and promised to cook for you in the middle of a blizzard.”

“It’s not a blizzard.” She craned her neck in the direction of the window. “Is it?”

“It is now.”

“Oh, Luke. I’m sorry.” A new thought struck her. “Caesar! You didn’t have to leave Caesar there all alone just to come over here, did you?”

“Nah. I had him close down for the night. Only lunatics are out in this weather.”

She grinned, holding out a hand for the bag. “I’m going to overlook the obvious response to that, because you brought me food.”

Unwrapping her burger, she paused before biting in. “Hey, can you stay?”

“What?”

“Could you stay, hang out for a while? Rory was supposed to spend the night but she’s stuck at Yale now.”

“You two had plans?”

“Yeah. Nothing special...she said she needed some mother-daughter bonding, but I think she was just out of clean clothes.” 

“That's too bad. I know you don’t get to see her as much now.”

“Yeah, it really kinda sucks. The thing is...” She turned her best cajoling expression his way. “With the storm, it wouldn’t be safe for me to go visit Sookie, and it’s boring here all by myself. It’s driving me crazy. You wouldn’t want me to risk life and limb going out into the blizzard, would you?”

Eyebrows raised, Luke considered her. “Somehow I think you’d make it.”

“Oh, come on, Luke. Stay and entertain me!” 

Sighing, he glanced behind them as the snow continued to blanket the world, and gave in. “Yeah, okay. I guess I don’t have anywhere better to be.”

Beaming, Lorelai turned her attention back to her food. “Want some of my fries?”

“Thanks, but I brought my own dinner.” 

When her eyes widened mid-bite, Luke shot her a reluctant smile. “You wouldn’t expect me to risk life and limb going **back** out into the blizzard, would you?” 

\----

“You could sleep in Rory’s room,” Lorelai told him as she passed him another blanket.

“We’ve been fighting about this for ten minutes,” he replied. “I’m not going to sleep in Rory’s room, on Rory’s bed. It’s weird.”

“It’s not weird. She wouldn’t even care. I can call her and have her tell you personally that she doesn’t.”

“And I will thank her very sincerely, and still sleep on the couch.” Luke watched as she returned with yet another blanket.

“I could sleep in Rory’s room,” Lorelai proposed, “and then you could sleep in mine.”

“Nope.”

“Luke, be reasonable. It’s freezing outside. The couch is uncomfortable and this house has one more bed than I need.”

“Lorelai, give it a rest,” he countered. “I won’t get cold. You’ve given me so many blankets I may never be cold again. And your couch is more comfortable than sleeping on the ground, which I’ve willingly done multiple times.”

“You’re too tall for the couch.”

Patiently, he stifled a sigh. “I am not too tall for the couch. Abe Lincoln wouldn’t be too tall for the couch. Are you going to let me sleep or what?”

She frowned. “Only if you promise that you’ll move to Rory’s room if you need to.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Fine. I swear.”

“All right.” Surveying the living room, still frowning, she gave up. “I’ll see you in the morning, I guess.”

“Yeah.” Luke watched her go, then turn back. 

“Are you going to sleep like that?”

“Like what?”

She gestured vaguely in his direction. “Like that. In your clothes.”

“Is there some alternative I’m not aware of?”

“Didn’t you bring pajamas?”

“Why would I have done that?”

“I don’t know. You brought yourself dinner.”

“Yeah, but you could have eaten that if I didn’t end up staying. If I’d brought a change of clothes, it would have looked really...”

She tilted her head, watching him carefully. “Really what?”

“I don’t know,” he said again, shrugging it off. “Presumptuous. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine sleeping like this.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am completely sure.” He almost smiled when she turned to go--and then spun around again. 

“If you need anything--”

“I’ll get it myself. I know where everything is,” he reminded her.

“Right. Right.” She stayed standing just inside the living room.

“Lorelai?”

“Hmm?”

“Go to bed.”

Sighing, Lorelai shifted on her feet. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s the snow.”

“The snow’s outside.”

She ignored his useless insertion of logic into the conversation. “It’s the first snow of the year, Luke. It’s special.”

“Yeah, it’s special all right. It’s going to take days for the plows to get everything back in working order.”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about. Snow is magical. It’s been there for all the best moments of my life. And every year, when the first snow falls, I go out for a walk to just appreciate it. To breathe it in.”

“So?”

“So I can’t go out in that!” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “The storm hit so fast that there was no time to appreciate it. I lost my chance.” 

Catching the cynical look in his eye, Lorelai tried again, sincerity softening her voice. “Luke, it’s an important tradition. With Rory off, doing her own thing this year, everything is different. I don’t have a lot of traditions left. I know it’s late and you need your sleep, but the snow is calling me and I can’t relax my brain.”

He nodded, unable to resist the sad side she usually buried pretty well. “Alright, then.”

“Huh?”

“If you need to go out in the snow, we’ll go out.”

She gasped. “We?”

“You can’t go out in this alone. You might end up actually living that scenario you described to Caesar.” Luke started pulling his boots on. “Bundle up,” he added over his shoulder. “We won’t be out there for long, but you could still get frostbite.”

Lorelai grinned and ducked around the corner to grab her hat and gloves. “Luke, you’re the best. The absolute best.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get this over with.”

He waited while Lorelai finished securing her outerwear, then took a deep breath and opened the door, ready to push through the storm. 

“Uh, Lorelai?”

“Yeah?” She turned to join him at the door, and stared. “That’s...wow. What is that?”

“That’d be a wall of snow,” he replied, sounding more calm than he felt.

“It is, isn’t it? It’s literally a wall of snow. In front of my door.”

“Yep.” Luke closed the door, shutting them inside, and began removing his boots again.

“That’s it? You’re just giving up?”

“What do you expect me to do?” he asked, exasperated. “Shovel my way out?”

“Could we?” 

“No.” He tossed his jacket back over a chair and retreated to the couch, then moved over so she could join him. “If we tried, you’d end up with a living room full of snow and no way to shut the door. Or I’d end up injured from the weight of the snow collapsing on me.”

She flinched. “Okay, no. Bad idea.”

They sat in silence, with Lorelai’s foot tapping. Luke could practically hear her mind at work. Then, startling him, she reached over to grab his hand.

“Luke,” she said, her voice wobbling. “We can’t get out.”

“Yeah,” he replied gently. “We covered that already.”

“No, I don’t mean tonight, for my stupid snow walk. We can’t get out, period. We’re trapped in here, aren’t we?”

He’d hoped she wouldn’t make that connection so quickly. Sighing, he squeezed her fingers, then let go. “Afraid so. Somebody will come dig us out, safely. Just as soon as they can.”

“And in the meantime?”

He leaned back into the couch. “Well, for now, it’s late and I’m pretty tired. Will you be okay while I grab some sleep?”

Lorelai shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. You sleep. I’ll be upstairs.”

“I do worry,” he murmured once she’d ascended the staircase. “Can’t help it.” 

\----

“Want some?”

Luke rubbed his eyes until they cleared.

“Are you seriously having pizza for breakfast?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because a burger for breakfast sounds disgusting.”

Shaking his head, he nudged her away from the microwave. “No, I don’t want any, and neither should you.”

“I have to eat, Luke. I’m starving.”

“Yes, but we can do better than microwaved pizza.”

She scoffed. “Can we? Are you sure? You haven’t looked in my fridge lately.”

“Why don’t you have any food, anyway? The store is like two blocks from here.”

“Now you’re exaggerating.” When he turned to look at her, she shrugged. “I’ve been working with Sookie on the catering, and just got done settling Rory in at Yale--”

“Yes, I remember,” he interrupted. “There was a mattress that would not die and this crazy mom who couldn’t drive a stick.”

“Dirty!” She smirked at him. “With planning for the Dragonfly on top of all that, it got away from me. I eat at your place anyway. Here, I just have to remember the coffee.”

“Which I’m sure you have in abundance.”

“Of course. I would **never** forget the coffee.”

In the tone of a man fighting a losing battle, he replied, “Maybe you should try applying that attitude to some other staples, like bread.”

“Oh, Luke. You know I can’t cook.”

“Who’s talking about cooking? You slap some peanut butter on it or some cheese, you’ve got a sandwich.”

She pointed a finger at him. “That’s cooking.”

“It is not. It’s basic life skills.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, nothing we can do about it now. We’re snowed in, and I have no bread.”

Luke nodded and opened her fridge. “You’re right, there’s really nothing in here. You’ve got butter, though.”

“Yum.”

“I’m just saying, that’s something. If we can find...” He turned to her cupboards, started rummaging through the one where she kept snack foods.

“I knew it!” He held up a box of crackers. 

“God, how old are those? I don’t even remember buying them.” Then Lorelai peered closer, wrinkling her nose. “Actually, I know I didn’t buy them. They’re whole grain.” 

Luke’s stoic expression was easy for her to read. “Lucas, why did you hide crackers in my kitchen?”

“Don’t call me that. And does it matter? Now we have another food option.”

“I guess, if you can call those food...”

“Which we can, because you’re hungry and putting peanut butter on these is a less terrible breakfast than pizza. Save the pizza for lunch.”

“Alright...” Lorelai took the box from him with two fingers, still staring at it as though it was secretly plotting against her. “Are you going to have a terrible breakfast too?”

“Yeah. Your peanut butter is crap, though. So I’m going to have mine with a little butter.”

“My peanut butter is peanut butter! You’re crazy.”

“Your peanut butter has more sugar in it than peanuts. **That’s** crazy. Breakfast shouldn’t put you into a diabetic coma.”

“Freak.”

“Lunatic.”

They settled in at the table to share their first non-holiday meal. Despite Lorelai making faces over the whole grain in the crackers and Luke rolling his eyes at her for making faces, it was fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d chatted with Luke while he ate ordinary--or in this case, bizarre--food. He was always feeding her, then busy feeding everyone else, too.

“So if we weren’t snowed in, what would you be doing right now?” She raised her voice over the running water while he washed the dishes, taking them from him to dry.

“It’s what, sevenish?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d be watching Kirk deliberate over the menu for an hour before getting the same thing he always has on Saturdays, and serving coffee to the crazy people who wake up early just to waste time on their caffeine fix.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right, I would be on my third cup right now,” she agreed wistfully.

“You want coffee?”

“It sucks compared to yours.”

“Not if I make it,” he shot back with a grin.

“Really?” Hope lit up her face as she reclaimed her chair. “That’d be great.”

She was distracted from watching his process when the phone rang. “It’s Rory,” she told Luke when she glanced at the caller ID.

“Hey, hon! I know, right? It’s crazy. We’ve got this fifty-foot high wall of snow trapping the whole house.” She paused, then rolled her eyes at Luke as he finished setting up the coffee and sat back down across from her.

“No, I’m not making it up so I don’t have to schlep to Luke’s. It’s really there. Tell her.”

She held the phone out to Luke, startling him. Then she shook it when he didn’t take it from her quickly enough. Hearing Rory’s tinny voice, he grabbed the phone.

“Hey, Rory. No, it’s not fifty feet tall. But there really is a wall. We can’t get out until it melts or somebody shovels us free. Yeah, no problem.” He handed the phone back to Lorelai.

“See? I told you!” She sniffed happily at the smell of coffee brewing and smiled in his direction, before taking the phone into the living room. “Huh? Oh. He brought me food last night and got stuck.”

Luke sat in her tiny kitchen and tried to pretend he couldn’t hear every word she was saying. 

“What do you mean, why did I ask him to come out during the storm? I was starving. He’s fine, it’s not like he needed sled dogs or anything.”

Lorelai sighed heavily. “I was restless without you here, and he was nice enough to keep me company but then we got snowed in. What’s so hard to understand?”

“No, no,” she said mildly. “We’re fine. Plenty of food here, don’t you worry. Yeah, we have power. I know, lucky.”

He watched her return to the kitchen, then laugh. “Yes, actually, I did tell him. He didn’t believe me. Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

“Luke,” she said, “Rory wants to know why you wouldn’t borrow her room last night.”

“The couch was fine!” 

“Yep, he just kept saying that. I don’t know,” she told Rory, still grinning. “You’re okay in your dorm room? Plenty of those ramen dinner things? Good. Okay, I’ll talk to you later. Bye, kid.”

Setting the phone back on the table, she went to stare at the finished coffee.

“Luke, it smells really good.”

“It should. You buy a decent brand.”

“You have coffee magic.”

“I know how to read instructions.”

“You just stick the coffee in the thing and hit the button. Who needs those?”

“People with coffee magic.”

“Right. You want some?”

“Got any tea?”

She turned to stare at him. 

He shook his head. “Stupid question. Sure, I’ll fix myself a cup.”

“No, I’ll get it. Cream, no sugar?”

“Light on the cream.”

“I know, I know, you’re not me.”

 **“Nobody** is you.”

“Why, thank you.” She sipped carefully, then raised her eyebrows. “Damn, this is good coffee.”

Handing him his cup, she reached absently for another cracker. “Thanks for breakfast, Luke.”

“No problem.” Nodding, he tasted his own coffee. It wasn’t bad. 

\----

Luke answered the phone while she was in the shower, fervently hoping it wasn’t either of her parents calling.

“Oh, hey, Taylor. Yeah, I got caught here last night. What’s the snow removal plan?”

He thanked whatever gods were listening for the fact that there was a snow wall between him and Taylor before continuing. “Yes, Taylor, I understand that I’m not a legal resident of this domicile, but I’m trapped here anyway, and she can’t come to the phone. No, she’s fine. I promise you, I’m not ‘covering anything up.’ What does that even mean? You’re crazy.”

He heard Lorelai come down the stairs and huffed out a breath. “Get Taylor to tell you what the hell is going on with the snow wall, would you? He won’t tell me anything.”

“Sure.” She took the phone and watched Luke pace away. “Taylor, when can we get out of here? Yeah, I’m fine. No, Luke isn’t holding me here against my will...it’s just a fluke thing. Taylor, the snow?”

She nodded encouragingly as Luke paced back her way. “No, I didn’t know this happened to a dozen other houses! I’m still not clear on how it could’ve happened to mine. This is why I have a porch. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Alright. Thanks, Taylor.”

She hung up the phone and offered Luke a sympathetic smile. “Is your blood pressure okay?”

“It’s fine. What did he tell you?”

“Apparently the snowfall was so heavy that they’re still working on clearing the roads. Once that’s done, they’ll start digging out the homeowners affected by the freak snowdrifts, of which I am only one in fourteen. They’re focusing on more urgent cases first, like Mrs. Cassini and her weak heart. Nobody knows how the snow could have blown up to bury our porches, but all the buried houses were facing the same direction as mine...so that’s something, maybe? Just one of those freakish wind things.”

“So you have no idea when they’re going to get us out of here.”

“’Fraid not. **They** have no idea when they’re coming to get us out of here. Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while.”

Luke sighed and held his hand out. “Give me the phone. I have to call Caesar and tell him not to worry about showing up this afternoon, even if he can make it out of his house.”

“Good plan. I’ll call Sookie and let her know I’m not here alone.”

She paused in the doorway, waiting until he stopped dialing to look up at her. “Hey, Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad it was you who brought the food.”

He doesn’t seem to know what to do with her easy confession. “Uh--yeah. Me too, I guess.”

She nods and ducks into the kitchen, smiling. Before Caesar picks up, he hears her voice travel from the other room.

“Want to watch a movie before lunch?”


	2. You Might Really See Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring cleaning and reminiscing, with a touch of mutual ogling. _There were some things you just didn’t do with your close male friends, and getting trapped alone together without a change of clothes and then letting them use your shower was now officially on that list._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This super-overdue update is in honor of [broken_hearted_bard](http://archiveofourown.org/users/broken_hearted_bard)'s birthday. Lots of banter and fluff in this one, and it's not done yet!

“Okay, what do you want to watch?”

Luke’s blank stare was priceless. “Whatever you want to watch is fine.”

“Come on, you’re not in the mood for anything specific?”

“No musicals.”

“Deal. But I mean really, Luke. We’ve got, like, all the movies. Cheesy, sappy, fight-y...pick your poison.”

He sighed. “Okay, suspense.”

“Ooh!” Lorelai’s face lit up. “Nice. Rory never goes for suspense first. Let’s see...” 

She turned away to dig through a pile of DVDs until she pulled one out triumphantly. “Rear Window. What do you say?”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay.” She handed him the DVD. “Put this in, would you? I’ll get the popcorn.”

She disappeared while he shouted after her, facing the TV. “Popcorn? What popcorn? We searched your entire kitchen yesterday and there was no popcorn there.”

Offering him a grin, Lorelai returned, snacks in hand. “No, you’re right, there’s not. But I do have some, I forgot until just now. It was in my underwear drawer."

“Why was it in--” Luke held up his hands. “Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

“Yeah, and look on the bright side. Now it can be lunch and we’ll have the choice of pizza or burgers for dinner.”

“Yum.” He looked queasy, and she felt the briefest pang of guilt for not being the kind of person who stocked salad. Then she brushed it off, because who would eat the salad on all the normal days when Luke wasn’t trapped in her house with her?

After coaching him on the movie night rules, and pouting when he blatantly broke all of them, Lorelai settled in. It was weird watching a movie with Luke, Taciturn Guy--but also fun. 

When he did have a comment, it was usually perceptive, with a heavy dose of snark. And then she would have to argue against his point, which made watching the movie take longer, but it was worth it to see him get all flustered.

She enjoyed him flustered.

“I still say it doesn’t make any sense,” Luke protested over the rolling credits. “First things first, if you think a guy is a murderer, you don’t just let him--”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lorelai cut him off as she left the couch. “I get it already. The psychological thriller isn’t perfectly logical. It’s a movie, Luke. It’s allowed to be a little ridiculous.”

“Not if it wants me to take it seriously.”

“Grump.”

“Hey, you asked.”

“Actually I didn’t,” she replied over her shoulder, foraging in the kitchen for more crackers. Hungry enough, they weren’t so bad.

“You invited my opinion when you wouldn’t shut up about yours,” he argued.

“Well, mine is right.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh.”

“Anyway, what do you want to do now?” She stared out the kitchen window at the heaps of snow and shook her head. “It’s barely lunchtime.”

“Honestly, I’d like to start putting this place back together. All your piles of crap are giving me nightmares of you dead underneath them.”

“What do you mean?” She frowned at the table, covered in old dishes and infomercial cookery that she’d bought when Rory was little and never bothered to use again. “You want to help me spring clean?”

“Well, ‘want to’ might be overstating it a little. I want something to do, and I desperately want your house not to look like this anymore.” He waved a hand at the debris. “So, yeah, I guess.”

Snacking, she weighed the privacy violation of him sifting through her stuff against the benefits of it actually getting done, and didn’t have to think for long. After all, Luke was already in the middle of her life. What didn’t he know that could surprise him among her junk drawers?

“Okay, let’s do it. We can start here,” she decided. “The kitchen will be easy since it’s not very sentimental.”

“Really.” Luke didn’t sound convinced. “Not this set of baby spoons? Or the duck-shaped measuring cups?”

“Oh, well, those stay. Obviously.” She shot him a grin.

“See? Everything is sentimental with you.” He sighed and prepared to dive into battle over every chipped plate.

****

“Oh, Luke, look!” Lorelai pulled a sheet of blue poster-board out of the closet and handed it to him. “Isn’t it great?”

“It’s...something.” He peered at the careful lettering until he understood it. “Oh, hey, I know what this is.”

“Rory’s class project.” Lorelai sat on the floor next to the closet, and took it back from him to study. “How she agonized over this. Everything had to be just right. The marker color, the letter spacing, the straightness of the lines.”

He grinned. “Well, that’s Rory.” 

“Yeah, but she was twelve!” Lorelai met his fond smile with her own. “And then she nearly had a breakdown in the last few weeks when she couldn’t get half the information she needed.”

“Yeah,” Luke said thoughtfully. “I remember.”

Surprised, Lorelai dragged her eyes away from the project. “You do?”

“Mm-hmm. She needed her dad’s side of the family tree and couldn’t get ahold of him. I never heard how you finally found him, by the way. She told me about the A she got on the project afterwards, that was it. What happened there?”

“Christopher,” Lorelai said simply, as though the name alone was an explanation.

“He’d dropped off the map again--he does that,” she pointed out. “Back then, we’d only just moved to Stars Hollow...we’d been living in Hartford, he’d visited us there, but not here. His number was disconnected. So we couldn’t expect to hear from him, we couldn’t go to him, and her assignment was to interview that side of her family just like mine.”

He leaned over to turn the family tree back around and appreciate how tidy--and complete--it was. “So, what did you do?”

“I went over his head.” Her smile was fierce, if a little brittle around the edges. “I went to my mother, who used her connections to get his parents’ information stretching way back. It was just easier.”

He knew how strained her relationship was with her parents in those days, and how nonexistent one was with Rory’s other grandparents. But he also knew it remained a raw wound in some ways, so he nodded as though the story were that simple. “That makes sense.”

Setting the paper aside, Lorelai smiled at him. “I can’t believe you remember that, though. What was it, seven years ago? And you barely knew Rory.”

“Maybe,” he replied easily. “But she made an impression. Just like her mother.”

Lorelai looked away. “Oh, now.”

“I mean it.” He wasn’t smirking anymore. “It was obvious as soon as you moved here, what a great kid Rory was, and what a great mom you had to be to make that happen.”

“No, Rory came out that way,” Lorelai argued. “I barely did a thing there.”

“Stop selling yourself short. Just imagine if Christopher had raised her,” he offered. “Or your mother.”

“Oh, god.” She grimaced. “I’m honestly not sure which picture is worse.” Visions of her little girl dying in a motorcycle crash or marrying a Stanford man at nineteen flashed before her eyes and made her shudder.

“See?”

“Yeah.” She accepted the implied compliment reluctantly. “Thanks, Luke.”

“Always happy to reintroduce reality to your world. Or try, anyway.” He blinked and looked past her to the stack of books at her side. “So how will you decide which of these to get rid of?”

“Oh, those stay.”

“All of them?”

“Yep.”

“You can’t possibly know that they all need to stay.”

“Why not?”

“You haven’t even looked at them.”

“Well, that’s the classics section. Celebrity memoirs, books on movies, kitschy books to put on the coffee table and dust off regularly. Every house needs those.”

“Okay, but when was the last time you read them?”

She quirked her lips at him, not answering, and that was all the answer he needed. “You have to get rid of some of these. Keep the books you actually use.”

Lorelai waved a hand. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ve got like twenty gardening books lying around here. We’ll get rid of all of those and call it even.”

“It doesn’t work that way.” He tried to rein in his exasperation. “You’re supposed to be decluttering. Which equals caring about what you use and don’t--not your relative amount of stuff.”

“Whoa, when did you become the Martha Stewart of home organization?” Lorelai poked him in the arm. “It’s fine if I don’t get rid of every useless thing I own. Let’s face it, that’s like eighty percent of what I own!”

“Fine.” On that, they could agree. “But if you’re not really going through your books, I’m going to leave you to it. Mind if I use your shower? That kitchen cabinet adventure was disgusting.”

“I had no idea the one under the sink was growing alien life!” She protested. “But yeah, go for it. I’ll be here.” 

Flipping through a book about the Beatles that she was pretty sure she’d read to Rory as a baby, Lorelai realized that she’d forgotten to tell Luke where the towels were just as he was already in the shower. “Oh, crap.” 

Also, whose clothes was he getting into after he cleaned himself up?

She headed upstairs, trying to be extra loud as a warning, before recognizing that the sound of the running water would mask her no matter what she did. 

Lorelai knocked on her own bathroom door, feeling miserably awkward. There were some things you just didn’t do with your close male friends, and getting trapped alone together without a change of clothes and then letting them use your shower was now officially on that list.

“Hey, Luke?”

There was a pause, as though he wasn’t sure how to respond, any more than she was. “Yeah, hey.”

“Do you need something to wear? Or, I don’t know, a towel?”

“Found a towel,” he told her, his voice sounding strange through the door. “Hall closet. You think I don’t know where you keep stuff? I’ve fixed every part of your house, Lorelai.”

“Oh. Right.” Idiotic of her. “What about clothes?”

“I’m just going to get back in the ones I was wearing. It’s no big deal.”

“It’s a very big deal,” she told him as she heard the water turn off. “The ones you were wearing came through the snowstorm, and then survived bio-warfare in my kitchen. I can find you something else.”

She could almost hear his frown, but he agreed more quickly than she expected. “Yeah, okay. I guess that would be good.”

“Good.” Triumphant, she thought it over. Best chance of success, her stash of ex-boyfriend clothes. Something of Max’s might fit him. “I’ll be right back. Then we can wash yours.”

“Even better.” He knew exactly where she’d be looking for clothes that would fit him. He didn’t have to like it, but it was practical for the moment.

She was back in two minutes, not having much to choose from, prepared to shove the clothes through a crack in the door and avert her eyes. Luke exited the bathroom before she got the chance.

“Thanks,” he said, taking the clothes and giving them a once-over before stepping back inside the bathroom--with nothing but a towel draped low around his waist, still damp all over from the shower.

When he shut the door behind himself again, Lorelai slumped against the wall to fan herself. Wow. Just...wow. That was what was hiding under those flannel shirts all this time?

I mean, sure, she knew he cleaned up nice, but that was compared to his usual baseball cap-burger flipping style. This was a whole new kind of surprise.

What other surprises was Luke hiding?

****

“Next room?” Luke asked once he was done dressing, damp hair curling behind his ears in a way that made her stare just a little too long.

“Lorelai?”

“Sorry.” She smiled, and with a shake of her head, came back to earth. “You really want to dive back into my mess?”

“Sure. Let’s just aim for a less toxic room this time.” He shrugged at her expression. “What else have we got to do except clean and watch movies all day? Unlike you, I’m not used to sitting on my butt for hours watching fake people live their lives.”

“My god, Luke, so dramatic.” Lorelai led the way to her bedroom, then grinned when she realized he was no longer with her and turned to find him hesitating outside the doorway. “You can cross the threshold. I promise, no garlic or crosses to be found here.”

“So I’m a vampire now?” His familiar scowl returned, but he followed her in.

“Well, I wasn’t sure. Why else would you be standing outside like you needed an invitation?” She sat on the only empty corner of her bed and surveyed the space where she’d successfully pulled out half of all her clothes to sort and downsize them.

“Jeez, this is a mess,” Luke said, evading the question. “How much of this stuff do you even wear?”

“Dunno.” Lorelai beamed up at him, pulling a random shirt off the nearest pile. “But does that really matter when the clothes are as awesome as this?” 

“It’s got a tongue on it.”

“It’s vintage.”

“It’s old and it has a tongue on it. There is no way you will ever wear that again.”

“Oh, yeah?” Lorelai reached up and began taking off her long-sleeve shirt.

“Hey--” He started to panic before realizing that she was wearing a tank top underneath. She tugged the t-shirt down, beaming triumphantly. Luke’s mouth went dry, despite how hideous the shirt was. It barely fit, clinging tightly to all of Lorelai’s curves. 

“What? Look, I’m wearing it.” She crossed her arms, eyes smirking, waiting for his argument, but it didn’t come. 

“Yeah.” He swallowed hard. “Yeah, you are.”

“Nothing?” She tilted her head curiously. “Nothing about the tongue, or the frayed seams, or how I’m too old for t-shirts?”

Luke shut his reaction down hard and fast, knowing how perceptive she was when she focused. “Nope. Who am I to judge your fashion choices, anyway?”

Delight spread over her face--not the response he was expecting. He watched it happen, bemused.

“What a great idea! You are exactly the person who should judge my fashion choices!” She nudged him toward the bed, getting him to sit with a gentle shove. 

“Huh?”

“New game.” She removed the t-shirt, Luke watching as it landed on the floor, then grabbed a pile of clothes from her closet floor and dumped them at his feet. “I have to sort through all my clothes, right? Decide what to keep, what to toss. Well, how better to utilize your willingness to help than with the always-in-style fashion show?”

“Fashion show.” He wasn’t sure whether to be amused or scared. You never knew with Lorelai.

“Yeah.” She became more excited about the idea the more she thought about it. “It’ll be way more fun than just sorting and piling to infinity, and it’ll give you a real role in the process. Since we both know all you can really do is make comments I’ll ignore anyway, at least this way, I’m giving you a chance to justify them.”

“This is bizarre.”

“Is that a vote against?”

Resigned, Luke shook his head. “No. Just an observation.” 

“Great!” She grabbed a handful of items from the top of the pile and headed for her bathroom. “Stay right there. I’ll be right back to strut the catwalk.”

The terrible French accent she added to her words made him chuckle and remember the fashion show she’d walked in with her mother a few years back. He was still grinning at the memory of that when she came back in, wearing a pair of low-rise black jeans, a blue sequined top, and a pink sweater with feathers along the neckline.

She jutted out one hip. “Well, what do you think?”

“First of all, ow--my eyes.” He grimaced, and she frowned.

“No reason to be mean, you know.”

“Not mean. Honest. That sweater looks like a Valentine’s Day goose was killed for the sake of a very poor life choice. And sequins make anybody look like they should be in Vegas.”

“Fine.” She took off the sweater, apparently indifferent to its fate, and let it join the vintage tee. “What about the jeans?”

Without the sweater, some of her stomach was left exposed between the sequined shirt and the jeans. No part of him could honestly protest that.

“Uh, they’re good. The jeans are fine.”

“Huh. Cool. Thanks.” Pleasantly surprised, Lorelai selected her next offerings and offered him a grin. “Okay, gimme a sec.”

She practically skipped off, delighted by their new pastime, completely oblivious to Luke's realization that he'd just set himself up for an afternoon of slow torture in the form of bare skin and clinging fabric.

“No problem,” he said to the empty room. “I’ll be right here.”

**Author's Note:**

> All titles borrowed from songs by Delta Rae.
> 
> This has not been beta'd. All mistakes are mine.


End file.
